2016 MINI Clubman: First official pictures leak

The secret’s out: The first official images of MINI‘s all-new Clubman have leaked out ahead of its full unveiling tomorrow. The new larger lifestyle estate will make its production debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September, and is due to go on sale soon after.

The new Clubman has undergone significant changes compared to the outgoing car, namely a substantially larger body and more conventional door layout. The Clubman concept at the 2014 Geneva show was a full 26cm longer than the outgoing one, as well as being 187mm wider and slightly taller. The size increases are due to it sharing the new UKL1 platform that will underpin cars such as the BMW 2-Series Active Tourer MPV.

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Yet perhaps the biggest revision for many is the new door layout, replacing the controversial ‘two-plus-one’ layout of the current car which has an occasional rear door that opens out onto the road in the UK. There is now two conventional rear doors, yet the traditional ‘barn-door’ twin opening arrangement remains at the back.

Although slightly toned down from the Geneva concept, the official car retains the textbook MINI front-end and elongated side profile, with a sportier, more sloping roofline and pinched rear window. The rear gets a more distinctive light design and the twin doors are wider. It gives it more road presence and shows the firm’s intentions to push the car closer to C-segment models such as the VW Golf.

Those bumped-up dimensions should translate into much more passenger space, with MINI claiming space for five adults. Judging by these images the boot should also be finally worthy of the ‘estate’ nametag, unlike the old car with its measly 260 litres of space.

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Engines are unconfirmed, but expect a similar range of three-cylinder petrol and diesel engines as the current hatch. The images show both the standard car (in grey) and a hot Cooper S variant, which will likely sport the same 192bhp 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine as the three and five-door MINI hatch. There’s no word yet on an even hotter John Cooper Works edition, but a plug-in hybrid powertrain is likely.

Prices and further details are yet to be confirmed, but we expect the range to start somewhere just below the entry-level Countryman crossover, at around £18,000.